MLB targets agents

Looks like a quiet Monday MLB schedule is resulting in a bevy of PED-related stories. This one is particularly interesting as it's a different approach from what we've heard/seen so far:

Major League Baseball is in the early stages of investigating player agents who may be connected to the sport's steroid scandal.

Wow.

Just as I believe no team was immune to the PED craze, I am sure every agent's stable has to have someone who has been dinged, or at least someone who has used but not yet caught.

If the following doesn't set you back on your heels, color me impressed (emphasis mine):

While MLB does not have the authority to directly punish or ban any player agent who is discovered to be trafficking in steroids or other banned substances, state and federal courts have upheld the authority of players' associations to regulate agents.

In other words, no matter what baseball investigators discover, it will be up to the union to punish rogue agents, and law enforcement agencies to prosecute them. Could there be the equivalent of a drug lord or cartel procuring and providing illegal PEDs to players so they might fatten their contracts and extend their careers, with the money trickling up to agents?"

Nothing would surprise us," said the source, who requested anonymity because of the nature of the investigations. "There are some very principled agents. There are some agents who don't have principles. Do I believe there are some agents who facilitate getting players PEDs? Absolutely."

I'm not accusing anyone because I don't have a shred of proof, but I noted last week the number of high profile Boras clients who have been caught, admitted, outted. From that posting:

I'm mad that the man behind ARod and Manny, none other than Scott Boras himself, is nowhere to be seen or heard. Just in case you are wondering, here are the some of the Boras clients who have been tagged as users (though some may not have been clients at the time of their getting caught):

• Manny
• ARod
• Kevin Brown
• Canseco
• Pudge Rodriguez
• Eric Gagne
• Scott Schoeneweis
• Rick Ankiel
• Ron Villone
• Gary Sheffield

As noted in this 2007 Daily News article:

But after two Boras clients...showed up on the client list of Signature Pharmacy as having received human growth hormone, and, in Schoeneweis' case, steroids, several executives say they will look twice at a Boras client, no matter who it is.

"Absolutely," one GM says. "He talks about how involved he is with their lives - how could he not have known?"

If any agents happen to read this and care to comment, on or off the record, please email me. Please tell me what MLB is asking.